Automatic device for discharging liquid-tanks.



No. 764,699. PATENTED JULY 12, 1904. J. W. ALVORD.

AUTOMATIC DEVICE FOR DISGHARGING LIQUID TANKS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 27. 1903. v

4 S EBTS-SHEET 1 NO MODEL.

N0. 76 699; PATENTED JULY 12, 1904. J. W. ALVORD.

AUTOMATIC DEVICE FOR DISOHARGING LIQUID TANKS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 27, 1903.

N0 MODEL. 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2 4 0 9 1 l V. L U D E T N B T A P J. W.ALVORD. AUTOMATIC DEVIUB FOR DISOHARGING LIQUID TANKS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 27, 1903.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3- H0 MODEL.

No. 764,699. PATENTED JULY 12, 1904,

J. W. ALVORD. AUTOMATIC DEVICE FOR DISGHA RGING LIQUID TANKS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 27, 1903.

N0 MODEIJ. 4 SHEETSSHEET 4 .4 0 I id, l Qi/t Patented. July 12, 1904fUNITED STATES PATENT @EEicE.

JOHN W. ALVORD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC DEVICE FOR DISCHARGING LIQUID-TANKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 764,699, dated July 12,1904.

Application filed May 27, 1903. Serial No. 158,987. (No model.)

To (LU ur/wm/ it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN ALvoRD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago,in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Automatic Devices forDischarging Liquid- Tanks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a device by which the sewage in sewagepurification plants is diverted onto difi'erent beds in rotation for thepurpose of filtering it or upon contactbeds for the purpose of purifyingit. The sewage may have had preliminary treatment in a septic-tank oritmay be received in its crude state, as'may be desired. It is receivedfirst into a dosing-chamber, which is filled by the inflowing sewage,and is then emptied in rotation into each of the adjacent tanks filledwith a quite coarse material. These are known as contact-beds, and it isthe object and design of the purification plant that each one of thesebeds inturn should be filled with sewage, allowed to stand three or fourhours in contact with the material with which the tank is filled, thengradually emptied and allowed to stand empty for three or four hours forthe purpose of aeration. There may be any number of these beds, and insome cases sewage after standing in contact in the first series of bedsis emptied into a second or lower series of beds, in which it receivesstill further purification, and in some cases even a third set of bedsmay be used; but this is rare.

My invention relates to the appliance by which the contents of thedosing-chamber is emptied. into the beds and by which the beds areemptied into the second series of bedsor to the outlet, and so on. Thedevice is operated by a float, which rises and falls with the sewage inthe dosing-chamber and actuates a series of siphons which are placed soas to discharge the contents of the dosing-chamber into the beds andsecondarily the beds into the outlet. The siphons which are thusactuated are the ordinary type of sewage-siphons which fill with airwhen the dosing-chamber is empty, and as the sewage rises over them theair is compressed in their domes until they -modified construction ofthehead.

' become over-balanced and with a certain height of liquid aredischarged and empty the contents of the dosing-chamber into the outlet.In applying my invention I so arrange these siphons that they are notdischarged in the ordinary manner by being unbalanced, but are set inoperation by suddenly releasing the compressed air in the domes throughan air-pipe leading to the device and an air-valve upon which the deviceoperates. It is therefore necessary in every case to have siphons whichwould ordinarily discharge at greater beads than thosewhich I intend touse when applying my device.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of adosing-chamber provided with my improved discharging devices.

Fig. 1 is a detail plan View of the weir. Fig.

2 is a top plan sectional view of the rotating device. Fig. 3 isvertical sectional elevation of the same. Fig. 4 is a similar section ofa Fig. 5 is .a plan of the same. Fig. 6 shows a further modification ot'the head. Fig. 7 is still another modification. Fig. 8 is a sectionalelevation of a modification of the siphon. Fig.

9 is a modification of the arm on the float-rod.

Fig. 10 is a plan view of a modified dosingchamber and dischargingdevice. Fig. 11 is a sectional elevation of one of the discharge devicesin said chamber. Fig. 12 is a plan view of another modification of thedosingchamber. Fig. 13 is a sectional elevation. thereof. Fig. M is aside elevation of the head of Figs. 1, 2, and 3, showing aslightly-modified ratchet and pawl. Fig. 15 is a plan view of the same.

The dosing-chamber 1 may be of any desired shape and capacity. Theeffluent from the septic-tank enters it through the pipe 2. An emergencyoutlet 3, normally closed by a stopper 1, enables the chamber to beemptied for inspection or cleaning. mits the discharge of the efiiuentdirectly into an outlet-pipe, if desired, without passing through thedosing-chamber and contact-beds. At one or more points in thedosing-chamber are located the siphons 6, by which the dose of efiiuentis discharged into the contact-beds,

A by-pass 5 per each siphon controlling one bed. The siphons are of theusual construction, having an inverted bell 7 connected by an air-pipe 8with the automatic device for actuating the valve 9 in said pipe topermit the escape of the air and the consequent discharge of thecontents of the chamber through the siphon. This automatic device isconveniently erected in or on the dosing-chamber and is preferablyprotected by a small building 10. In this building is erected a standard11, supporting a working head 12 and serving as a guide for a float-rod13, connected with a float 1 1 in the dosing-chamber. The float may beprotected by a tube 15, if desired, having an open bottom to admit thecontents of the chamber. In the working head the rod carries alaterallyprojecting arm 16 to operate the controlling devices for thevalves'9 in the air-pipes, such as levers 17 attached to the stems ofsaid valves and projecting into the head through slots 18 in the casing19 of said head. These controlling devices are preferably so constructedas to respond to the actuating-arm in lines parallel with the line ofmovement of the float. As the chamber fills the float rises, and at theproper time the arm lifts the valve-lever and allows the air confined inthe bell of the siphon to escape, thus causing the contents of thechamber to discharge through the siphon onto the contact-bed 20.

In order to operate a number of air-valves and their siphons inrecurrence, the working head is provided with means for automaticallydeflecting the arm 16 as the float rises and falls in a plane transverseto the line of movement of the float in order to actuate thevalve-controlling devices in succession. For this purpose I prefer thedevice which forms the particular feature of novelty of my invention-towit, two opposite cylinders having teeth 21, which intermesh so as toform a zigzag series of cam-surfaces running around the head and throughwhich the arm 16 projects. One edge of each tooth is vertical and theother inclined, and the vertical edge 22 of one stands opposite theinclined edge 23 of the one opposite to it. In each upward and downwardstroke of the arm 16 it will therefore move 'at first in a straight lineuntil it strikes the incline of the opposite tooth, when it will becarried laterally around as it continues to rise or fall. In eachupward'stroke the arm will actuate a valveably geared to arevolution-counter 26, as by means of a sleeve 27. The toothed cylindersare preferably composed of segments 28, fastened to the heads 29 of thecasing 19. This mode of construction enables me to provide for severalactuations of the same air-valve and siphon, if desired, so that morethan one dose can be discharged upon the same contact-bed. Such anarrangement is shown in Figs. 4: and 5, where the teeth are made narrow,so that three of them operate on the arm 16 during its passage past oneof the valvelevers 9. said lever having a broad T-head 30 extendingacross the are covered by the three teeth. T-head 30, the lever-arm ofsaid head being long enough to keep in contact with the arm 16 in allpositions. is desired to put one of the contact-beds out of service awide segment 31 can be put in, as shown in Fig. 7, which causes the arm16 to skip several of the teeth in the lower cylinder and the valvelever or levers corresponding thereto. To reduce the friction andrelieve the float-rod of undue resistance, the arm may be provided witha roller 32, as shown in Fig. 9.

It may be desired sometimes to automatically empty the contact-bed by anair-controlled siphon similar to the one used for filling the bed. Forthis purpose the air-pipe 8 may be brought to the rotating device and anairvalve lever 33 arranged to be operated by the arm at a suitable time.This lever may be arranged under the broad end 30 of one of thevalve-levers 9, as shown in Fig. 5, or, as shown in Fig. 6, theinterpolated lever may be actuated by an upward extension 34 of thefloat-rod, carrying a second arm 35. Any number of additional levers maybe thus operated at any predetermined time in the circuit, as it isevident that this construction may be variously modified to suit thecircumstances of any given case. These interpolated levers may also beused to operate a second or third set of contact-beds.

In place of the siphon shown in Fig. 1 I may use the device shown inFig. 8, where a dome or bell 36 is placed in the lower part of the tank37 to be emptied and connected by an air-pipe 38 with the automaticoperating device. As soon as the air-pressure is relieved the waterrises in the bell, lifting the float 39 and with it the valve 40 andallowing the tank to empty. Meantime the air-valve is closed again, andthe bell being full of fluid the float is held up and the valve 6L0 keptopen until the level in the tank falls below the bottom of the bell,when the air enters the bell, the contained water and the float fall,and the valve is closed.

It is desirable to use small dosing-chambers to avoid the expense oflarge ones. By means of my above-described rotating device such- At notime is the arm 16 above the I On the other hand, if it IIO IIS

chambers are made practical, as they can be filled and emptied into thesame contact-bed as many times as may be desired; but in working siphonsin this manner with a small dosing-chamber it frequently occurs that thesiphon does not readily take air again after the chamber is emptied,because the effluent flows in from the septic-tank almost as fast as itdischarges. This results in a series of partial sealings and unsealingsof the siphon, which causes the sewage to run through the siphon in apractically continuous stream. In order to remedy this defect, I havedevised means to stop the flow into the dosing-chamber for a few minutesjust as the last portion of the dose is being emptied through thesiphon. The sewage empties into the closingchamber over a weir 4:1,made,preferably, of steel plate and having side slots or guides 42, in whichis fitted a vertically-movable gate d3, which is lifted and dropped by aball-float 44E, operating a lever 45. The gate has only a limited riseand fall, and the float is kept submerged at all times except when thedosing-chamber is nearly empty, when by rea son of the low level in thechamber the Heat begins to drop, and as soon as the gate closes down theflow into the dosing-chamber is stopped for a few moments until thesewage behind the weir rises and flows over the gate and begins to flllthe dosing-chamber again. This brief intermission of flow is found to beall that is necessary to enable the outflowingsiphon 6 to seal itselfwith air again after it has discharged the contents of thedosingchamber. This automatic weir therefore cooperates with therotating device to bring about a perfect action of the siphons and causean automatic and effective discharge of the dosing-ehamber atpredetermined intervals of time. If desired. I may substitute for thesiphons devices in which this weir is a feature. In Figs. 10 and 11 thedosing-chamber 4:6 is connected with a plurality of channels 4:7,leading to various contact or filtering beds. Each channel is controlledby a weir a8 and gate 49, the latter operated by a lever 50, attached toa float 51 in a bell 52 in the dosing-chamber. The bell is connected byan air-pipe 53 with an automatic rotating device 54. \V hen theweirgates are closed, the sewagerises in the dosing-chamber until thefloat in the rotating device opens the air-valve in the pipefrom one ofthe bells, releasing the air and allowing the sewage to enter the belland lift the float and the gate. This form of discharging device isespecially applicable where very little fall is available. If desired,

the weirs and gates can be operated directly by the float in theautomatic rotating device, as shown in Figs. 12 and 13, which shows acircular dosing chamber with dischargingchannels radiating from it, eachcontrolled by a weir and gate whose lever is operated by the arm on thefloat in thecentral standard.

Having thus described my invention, what:

I claim is- 1. An apparatus for the purpose set forth, comprising aliquid tank or receptacle, a plurality of discharging devices foremptying the same, a float in said receptacle, a plural ity of devicesfor controlling said discharge devices constructed to be actuated inlines.

parallel with the line of movement of the float, an arm carried by saidfloat, and means for automatically rotating said arm 1n adlrectiontransverse to the line of movement of said float in order to bring it inline with the controlling devices in succession.

2 An apparatus for the purpose set forth, comprising a liquid tank orreceptacle, a plurality of discharge devices for successively emptyingsaid tank, each of said devices comprising a valve and operating lever,afloat in said tank, an arm carried by said float, and means forautomatically deflecting said arm as the float rises and falls in orderto cause it to actuate said lever successively.

3. An apparatus for the purpose set forth, comprising a liquid tank orreceptacle, a plurality of siphons for successively emptying said tank,an air-pipe connected with each siphon, valves in said pipes, a float insaid tank, an arm carried by said float, and means for automaticallybringing said arm into actuating position with reference to said valvesin succession as the float rises and falls.

4. An apparatus for the purpose set forth, comprising a liquid tank orreceptacle, a plurality of siphons for emptying the same, an air-pipeconnected with each siphon, a valve in each pipe, said valves beinggrouped in a circle, a float in said tank, an arm carried by said float,and a plurality of opposing carnsurfaces for causing said arm to rotateand to operate said valves in succession as the float rises and falls.

5. In an apparatus for the purpose set forth,

the combination with a liquid-tank, of two or more discharging devicestherefor, a float in said tank, of an arm carried thereby, and adaptedto operate said dischargingdevices, and a head provided with two sets ofteeth having vertical and inclined edges, between which said arm plays.

6. In an apparatus for the purpose set forth, the combination withaliquid-tank, of two or more discharging devices therefor, a float insaid tank, an arm carried thereby, and adapted to operate saiddischarging devices, and a head having two circular sets of teeth eachhaving a vertical and an inclined edge, the vertical edges of the teethin one set being opposite the inclined edges of the teeth in the otherset.

7. In an apparatus for the purpose set forth, the combination with acircular series of airpipes and valve-levers, of a head having a casingprovided with slots for said levers, end plates for said casing, aplurality of segments AIL 764,699

attached to each end plate, each segment having a vertical and aninclined edge, a float-rod in said casing, and an arm on said rodprojecting out between said segments in line with said levers.

8. An apparatus for the purpose set forth, comprising a liquid tank orreceptacle, one or more siphons for emptying the same, means foroperating said siphon, and means for momentarily checking the flow ofliquid into said tank after it has been emptied.

9. An apparatus for the purpose set forth, comprising a liquid tank orreceptacle, one or more siphons for emptying the same, means foroperating said siphon, a gate in the supply-conduit for said tank, andmeans for antank connected With said gate.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this speclfication 1n thepresence or tWo subscribing Witnesses.

JOHN W. ALVORD' Witnesses:

FRED G. WILBER, CHAS. B. BURDIOK.

